Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Bank Round-Up

National Bank of KenyaNBK’s net profit went down from 404 million to 383 million, mainly as a result of increased provision for bad debts - the bank provided 1.7 billion, up from 1.6 billion in 2003. The Bank has so far provided for 12 billion of its 17 billion bad debts portfolio.

The main component of their profit was an increase in foreign exchange income from 92 to 274 million. During the year loans to customers increased from 21 to 24 billion, and customer deposits increased from 20 to 22 billion. It is still not an efficient Bank – given that with assets of 30 billion, it only returned a profit of 300 million – and still can’t pay a divided as it must re-coup its losses of previous years first. The Bank received capital from the Government of 500 million, but has zero shillings in government securities. Shares in NBK are trading at 19 shillings (in the last year, low has been 13, & high has been 36 shillings) on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Transnational BankThe most unusual result comes from TNBL where after tax profit increased 10X from 118 million to 1.04 billion in 2004. Customer deposit s more than doubled, from 523 million to 1.2 billion, while loans increased from 685 to 876 million. The staggering profit comes from other income of 837 million during the year - probably a write back as someone paid of a big political loan that had been written off.

Fina BankFina is the only major bank, so far, to declare a loss for the year ended (42 million, down from a 75 million profit in 2003). The main component of the loss was an increase provision for bad debts from 88 to 205 million. Also staff costs and operating expenses increased by 33 and 50% respectively (both at about 130 m), while deposits and loans remained relatively unchanged at 5 and 2.6 billion respectively.

StanbicStandard Bank of South Africa, which was the only major bank to declare a loss in 2003 (104 million), turned things round in 2004 to return a profit of 118 million. It appears to have been saddled with some unprofitable loans in 2003, because in 2004, interest income increased from 183 to 368 million. Also it reduced is investment in government from 3.1 to 1 billion during the year, and shifted the funds to customer loans, which went up from 4 to 7 billion at the end of 2004; however deposits remained flat at 8 billion.

Development Bank of KenyaDBK which is going to merge with HFCK, had a reduced profit during the year of 65 million, down from 92 million in 2003. Customer deposits decreased from 613 to 469 million. The bank which is supposed to be a development finance institution, doubled its investment in government securities from 646 million to 1.2 billion